OPEN. POUR. CONNECT.
Prize(s):
Honorable Mention 2026 Multimedia Design / Brand Identity
Company Name:The Quollective Africa
Lead Designer(s) Name(s):Stephen Baya
Design Team / Other designer(s):John Gaitho, Andrew Nyaga, Kennedy Thiongo, Phiona Kanyesigye
Other Contributor(s):Maureen Rutabingwa, Veronicah Waweru, Leila Terry Shikuku
Client Name:East African Breweries PLC
Project Location:Kenya
Design Status:Commercialized
Website: View
Project Description:
Most nights don't need speeches. They don't need tricks. They just need an excuse to begin. When we launched a range of ready-to-serve premixed cocktails across Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and Gilbey's in Kenya, the brief was to find a single voice for a category that had never spoken as one. The creative answer was three words: Open. Pour. Connect. Three steps anyone could own. No shaking. No recipe. No bartender. Just the moment you actually came for. The campaign launched across outdoor, in-store, and social, giving a growing Kenyan cocktail culture a language it could recognize itself in. Simple. Confident. Built for the way people already want to drink.
Most nights don't need speeches. They don't need tricks. They just need an excuse to begin. When we launched a range of ready-to-serve premixed cocktails across Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and Gilbey's in Kenya, the brief was to find a single voice for a category that had never spoken as one. The creative answer was three words: Open. Pour. Connect. Three steps anyone could own. No shaking. No recipe. No bartender. Just the moment you actually came for. The campaign launched across outdoor, in-store, and social, giving a growing Kenyan cocktail culture a language it could recognize itself in. Simple. Confident. Built for the way people already want to drink.
Project Innovation / Specification:
The innovation was in what we refused to say. The ready-to-serve cocktail category had been working overtime to justify itself, trying to convince consumers that premixed drinks were as good as the real thing. We rejected that positioning entirely. Instead of defending the product, we celebrated the moment it unlocks. Open. Pour. Connect. is a platform, not a tagline. Three words that gave three very different brands, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and Gilbey's, a shared language while keeping their individual visual worlds intact. It operates at the category level and the brand level simultaneously. The structure is infinitely expandable. New occasion. New brand. New market. The platform flexes without breaking. Because the truth at its centre, that connection is the real drink, does not age.
The innovation was in what we refused to say. The ready-to-serve cocktail category had been working overtime to justify itself, trying to convince consumers that premixed drinks were as good as the real thing. We rejected that positioning entirely. Instead of defending the product, we celebrated the moment it unlocks. Open. Pour. Connect. is a platform, not a tagline. Three words that gave three very different brands, Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, and Gilbey's, a shared language while keeping their individual visual worlds intact. It operates at the category level and the brand level simultaneously. The structure is infinitely expandable. New occasion. New brand. New market. The platform flexes without breaking. Because the truth at its centre, that connection is the real drink, does not age.
Project Sustainability Approach:
The work was designed to last because it was anchored in human truth, not product mechanics. Open. Pour. Connect. does not sell features. It sells a feeling that people have been chasing since the first campfire. That makes it immune to the brief changes and product updates that kill most campaigns. The platform was also built as a system: the three-word structure is modular, the visual territories are ownable, and the copy logic travels across occasions, seasons, and markets without losing its grip. Kenya was the launch market. The architecture was built for the continent.
The work was designed to last because it was anchored in human truth, not product mechanics. Open. Pour. Connect. does not sell features. It sells a feeling that people have been chasing since the first campfire. That makes it immune to the brief changes and product updates that kill most campaigns. The platform was also built as a system: the three-word structure is modular, the visual territories are ownable, and the copy logic travels across occasions, seasons, and markets without losing its grip. Kenya was the launch market. The architecture was built for the continent.
Local and Regional Impacts of the Project:
Kenya's cocktail culture is young, confident, and hungry. This campaign gave it a language to match. By uniting three of the world's biggest spirits brands under one creative platform for the first time in this market, the work helped define the RTD cocktail occasion for Kenyan consumers. It positioned the category not as a compromise but as the smarter, easier choice for any social moment. The platform's design logic was built to scale across East and West Africa, making Kenya the creative hub for a category expansion that speaks the language of the continent.
Kenya's cocktail culture is young, confident, and hungry. This campaign gave it a language to match. By uniting three of the world's biggest spirits brands under one creative platform for the first time in this market, the work helped define the RTD cocktail occasion for Kenyan consumers. It positioned the category not as a compromise but as the smarter, easier choice for any social moment. The platform's design logic was built to scale across East and West Africa, making Kenya the creative hub for a category expansion that speaks the language of the continent.
